One of the most common questions I hear from hostels is what software should they use. I've created a survey to try and get more information about what people think about their hostel software. I'm particularly interested in which software people like based on the size of the hostel.

Please click here to take the survey.

All personal information will be kept strictly confidential. The reason it asks for your name is to make sure that the people who fill out the survey really are affiliated with hostels

Is anyone familar with the booking engine Hosteloffice.com? What are your experiences?

I'm a new night manager and have this as a reoccurring problem... What exactly is the proper hostel etiquette with guests bringing home the bar floozy and getting it on?

What are other hostels policy with this problem?

Hi there,

I designed a (hopefully) useful little booking software for small hostels.
The main aim is to keep the booking process for front desk staff simple and fast.

I know many people want to have an option to syncronize allocations with online booking engines, but as this subject is rather complicated I decided to keep that completely out of my approach (for now)

Please have a look at my website and let me know what you think.

www.bunkbooker.de

Cheers
Toby

Has anyone tried HostelSync? It is free software for managing booking engine allocation. The beta version was just released on 01 Jan, 2011. They say it will synchronize your bed inventory on HW and HB every 30 seconds. Aside from those two I’m not sure if they currently sync up any other booking engines.

There aren’t many programs out there that work with HW. Myallocator.com works to synchronize allocation for most booking engines, but not for HW. As far as I’m aware Charts is the only PMS software other than Backpack Online that syncs up with HW. HostelSync has apparently found a way around the “Human Test” on the HW Inbox, allowing them to update bed availability without an API.

I haven’t tested out their software, but it would be interesting to hear from anyone who tries it out.

I am looking at Dorm Project Front Desk Operation -Can anyone recommend it?

or does anyone use it?

Charts on-line looks a great system?

Thanks all
Download

Hi colleagues!

My hostel has been inserted into more than 5 travel websites. Once a booking arrives from hostelworld, for example, i have to modify beds in the other 4 one by one.

Does it exist a easier way to save time with these booking systems? Thanx all

Hi folks,

The thing that annoys me the most as a guest is waiting for checkin/checkout at the reception. What would be the tips & tricks to expedite these processes?

1. Having proper software to automate tasks?
2. Having the front desk person trained that it is horrible to wait and that he must act quickly
3. Having one extra person available at front desk from 10am to 2pm,the general checkin/checkout time?

And last question: Is there any research on what time would be preferable/acceptable for the customer to wait for these processes?

Just for the reference, for an unpatient person like myself (and I know plenty like me :D), the preferable time would be 2, 3 minutes, and I could wait up to 10 minutes max. Do you have any numbers like that?

Now available at the HostelManageware website, an english version for the instruction manual
Take a look: http://www.hostelmanageware.com/hw/en/manuallink.htm

The HostelManageware Team

Is anyone working with the PHP residence property management system?

It´s open-source and looks quite promising to me.